Multibit Programmable Flash Memory Realized on Vertical Si Nanowire Channel

Author

Sun, Y. ; Yu, H.Y. ; Singh, N. ; Shen, N.S. ; Lo, G.Q. ; Kwong, D.L.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Nanyang Technol. Univ., Singapore, Singapore

Volume

31

Issue

5

fYear

2010

fDate

5/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

390

Lastpage

392

Abstract

In this letter, we demonstrate a multibit programmable vertical silicon nanowire (SiNW) SONOS memory using a top-down method. The flash devices realized on highly scaled squarish SiNW down to 20 nm in diagonal show much improved program/erase speed and window along with good retention and endurance characteristics as compared to the ones with a large dimension. The performance improvements with scaling of wire dimensions are attributed to the enhancement of the electric field in tunnel oxide and reduction in blocking oxide as a result of reduced radius of curvatures, particularly on the corners of the squarish wire.

Keywords

elemental semiconductors; flash memories; nanowires; programmable circuits; silicon; SONOS memory; Si; blocking oxide reduction; electric field enhancement; flash devices; multibit programmable flash memory; multibit programmable vertical silicon nanowire; top-down method; tunnel oxide; vertical Si nanowire channel; 3-D Flash memory; Gate-all-around (GAA); multibit programmable; vertical silicon nanowire (SiNW);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2010.2041745

Filename

5427048